Memories of the Distant Champion
by Dr. ZalostTealos
Summary: Taking place in the distant land of Orre, Wes looks back at the many memories he had. His most fond memories are the memories he had with her in their adventures together. While he holds particular memories dear to his heart, others he can never forget... no matter how hard he'll try.
1. Memory: 1

Wes drove his hover cycle up through the forest trail to Agate Village's isolated gateway. Rui kept her right ear covered by her right hand raised to the level of her eyes. Rui looked over to her travelling companion's face to see his expression, but his eyes were hidden under his desert visor. He didn't wear a grin on his face, not like the grin he had yesterday with their victory against Evice and destruction of Cipher at Realgam Tower's Colosseum.

They had finally arrived once again, but Wes parked his vehicle by an oil lamp in the mountain trail to Agate Village's wooden bridge. The blue trench coated young man stepped out of the vehicle, following him Rui joined the stroll through the night.

She kept close to him as they rose in altitude up the mountain. Throughout their adventure together she always felt secure and unafraid of any potential danger that could be lurking out of sight. The countless Cipher Peons that ambushed them were no match of Wes's strong will that showed through his two loyal Pokémon and Pokémon purified by Agate Relic's purifying light.

Ever since the day she almost was captured and taken to be dealt with by Cipher's need to stay concealed, she has never felt safer around her companion as she did now.

"We're here…", Wes said to her once they've reached the wooden bridge across the rushing water.

"Great! Are we going back to grandpa's?", Rui questioned as she stood looking at the lights in the homes that surrounded the giant dead tree that was her grandpa's home.

"You are…", Wes said to her, prompting Rui to raise her eyebrows in shock.

"What? Aren't you coming?", Rui queried in her surprise.

"This is the part… where you stay safe with your family and I will go back to my own business...", Wes said keeping the visor over his eyes.

"… What? …. You… you don't want me around anymore?", the young lady asked in disbelief.

Wes sighed. He stood silent for a moment as he could see the reaction on her face that he knew was going to happen.

"Cipher is dead. I can recognize Shadow Pokémon without your help… I don't need you anymore.", Wes explained part of his reasoning.

"But… where will you go? … do you have a family to return to?"

Wes did not answer. He stood stoic as Rui tried to read his expression. Unlucky for her, he excelled at keeping his expression hidden when his eyes are hidden behind his visor. Wes spoke to her…

"I…. unknowingly… helped Cipher when I was with Team Snagem… and thanks to you, I helped take back what I gave to them…. You were all I needed to complete the goal I had once I left Team Snagem to fend for myself… and now that it's all over…"

"… What do you mean? Wes, where will you go? You aren't going back to Team Snagem are you?", she asked him.

"No… I… I wanted to take back my past…. And I did… but you don't need…."

"Need what? Wes?! What is your problem?!"

"It's over Rui… I protected you up until now. Cipher is gone. The Shadow Pokémon have been snagged and purified. We don't need to be together anymore…"

"You…. You really don't want me around?", asked Rui again with her eyes glistening with a sudden accumulation of tears.

"I… I cannot thank you enough, Rui…. You've believed in me like no other person has… but I cannot risk letting you stay with me any longer…. Its better this way… trust me…"

"I… I guess I can respect that…. Wes…", answered Rui before she closed her eyes as she faced the entangled ground.

Wes shook his head as he kept his expression stable.

"I have my own journey to go on now… I'm going to hunt the last of Cipher's remaining members… goodbye… Rui.", Wes declared before he turned about face.

"… G… Goodbye… Wes…", Rui bid him goodbye as well.

A few steps were taken forward. Wes paused the moment he heard a single sob however, and turned to see her face concealed under the shade of her hair. He sighed and turned back to her as he felt a weight of guilt in his heart.

Rui could see him return. She took her eyes off of the ground and looked into Wes's eyes after he removed his visor and held it in his hands. He took a moment to look at her face for ten seconds.

"I thought this would be for the best of both of our worlds…", Wes explained as he gazed upon her with the starlight illuminating her eyes and the moon charm choker necklace around her neck.

"Its… it's alright… I really had fun in our adventure together… Wes… thank you for rescuing me and escorting me all this time...", Rui thanked him as she wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Wes was silent, but he slowly raised his right hand up to offer some comfort, but Rui interrupted his path and suddenly wrapped him in a tight embrace.

"You will always be my gallant prince... I always believed in you Wes… Thank you so much for the memories.", Rui said to him as she kept her head on his right shoulder and her arms across his back.

Wes didn't know how to react. His arms were spread in the air, his Snag Machine mounted left arm wanted to wrap itself around her. In his heart, he was taken back to a time long lost where he was held lovingly by someone he once considered to be part of his family.

Rui opened her eyes when she felt Wes's firm arms slowly fasten around her waist and back. She took her head off of his shoulder and looked into his eyes. Wes gave a smile with a small glisten in his eyes shining across the starlight too.

"I always meant this moment to come… so that I could protect what mattered to me the most…", Wes began speaking.

"But… maybe…. Maybe I could postpone this moment a little longer… if you'd like, Rui…"

"Wes?", Rui queried for what he meant.

"This time… I'll ask you, Rui… Do you want to come with me?… I promise to protect you for as long as I live. Wherever we go, I will keep you and your smile safe...", he proposed to her.

Rui was dumbfounded. She couldn't help but blush at how long they have been kept in this embrace together. The orange haired young lady didn't complain however as she tightened her arms and pressed his torso towards hers.

"Ohh Wes! I-I promise I'll … I'll do my best to protect you too… And eventually I'll get a Trainer ID so I can be a Pokémon trainer to fend for myself too!", Rui promised him.

"But for now, I'm happy making more memories with you on our adventures together… I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.", she continued.

"Tomorrow we're going to start hunting for criminals… that's why I was afraid of keeping you with me any longer… who knows how far we'll need to travel to find some of these guys…", explained Wes.

"Well we'll be ready for them, just like we were with Cipher. Wes, thank you.", she thanking him once again as she wouldn't let go of their embrace.

After their heart-to-heart embrace, they left for Eagun's home on the top of Agate Village's hill within the dead tree and slept in their beds together for the night in time for tomorrow's new beginning.


	2. Memory: 3

In the Under, the sun would not show itself to the denizens of the old subterranean mining town. So the way time was visually seen was through their electric clocks and watches on their P*DAs, naturally. People knew when to sleep if they paid attention to the time, but a select few cannot differentiate between morning and night when you're deep underground in a dark colony of thugs and rogues.

The people of the Under were unusual to say the least. From their time once worshipping an idol Cipher entrusted as the admin of the Under's operations, the people were still shady and questionable in their moral decisions. In one instance, a trainer had caused a calamity when he sent out his two Wailords to oppose Wes out of spite for defeating and running his idol out of town. To this day, the streets remained dented and soaked in water that could never evaporate without the sun.

Such odd folk was common in the Under, but nothing was more odd than the old man who ran a hotel consisting of only two small one bed rooms for a price of one thousand Poke Dollars per room per night. Surely it was easy for the old man to maintain the two small, yet admittedly comfy, rooms consisting of a large bed and two holographic night lamps for each side of the bed.

In conjunction with the bar owner on the second floor of the small building, the two maintained a mutual relationship along with their respective jobs long enough for Wes and Rui to arrive in their building for the first time in their crusade against Cipher.

The couple approached the old man at his counter. Wes caught the elder's attention and snapped him out of his slumber with his snot bubble popped.

"Eughhh? Oh! Ah visitors! Are you two together?", the old man asked.

"Yes.", Wes answered as Rui yawned from the exhaustion of their trip.

"Perfect! Welcome to The Under Grand Hotel! One night stay in one room is one hundred thousand Poke Dollars. Would you like to stay for the night? Yes or no?", the old man asked.

"Yes.", Wes said before transacting one thousand Poke Dollars from his P*DA to the old man's digital cash register.

"Perfect! Hahaha… I'm not even going to question if you two are the spies Lady Venus has warned us about. It's not every day I get both of my rooms rented out for a night.", the old man exclaimed with a wide grin across his face.

"Your room is over there to your left, and remember, no refunds!", the old man added.

Wes didn't think anything of the owner's added statement as he followed his directions. Rui walked beside him to look into the room they were both going to sleep in. As the automatic door slid open, Wes's bright yellow eyes and Rui's light blue eyes widened with an added jaw drop in shock and embarrassment before an immediate frustration.

The old man was about to doze off again until he was startled by the sound of slam of Wes's formidable arms upon his desk. From the elderly man's seat, he looked up at Wes who had an angry expression on his face.

"P-Please don't rob me! The till doesn't have any money!", the old man pleaded with his hands up.

"I paid for a room for two!", Wes said to him with an angry tone.

"Yes! Yes you did!", the old man retaliated lowering his hands in realizing he wasn't being robbed.

"There is only one bed in there! What do you think this is?!", the silver haired young man asked him with his voice raised.

"What?! There's enough room on that bed for two! … At least I think so…", the old man responded before looking over at Rui who was standing by the metal doorway looking into the room.

Wes was shocked and shook his head as he suddenly blushed red under his white stripe of paint. He gave the old man an evil glare before the old man responded.

"Look if you don't want to sleep in the bed; then sleep on the ground, one of you. Or leave and I'll keep your money. It's your choice."

Wes looked back at Rui and saw how exhausted she looked. Her eyes had bags that could carry luggage to Kanto and back. She might have been blushing a little a moment ago, but she could barely keep her eyes open in the conversation Wes and the hotel owner was having. Wes clenched his right fist tight before he sighed and placed his black gloved right hand over his face in defeat.

In a moment, Wes and Rui entered the small cramped hotel room together. Rui immediately flung her sweater, her choker necklace moon charm, her two strings used to hold her spiked pigtails, and her skirt into to a corner of the room near the doorway. Wes agreed not to look in her direction as he faced his side of the room resisting the temptation to turn around.

"Alright, you can look now Wes.", Rui signaled him the all clear.

Wes turned around to see Rui , loose haired, comfortably covered in the bed's teal colored covers on one side of the bed. The orange haired young woman had half of her face sunk in the pillow as she looked his way.

"You know Wes, this bed is actually big enough for the two of us… ", admitted Rui as she stretched her right arm across the empty bed space.

"Not saying you should sleep with me, of course… but..."

Wes was silent as he shook his head in response.

"No, no I'll just sleep on the floor. Sleep well, Rui.", Wes responded before taking off his Snag Machine, blue trench coat, his black gloves, and his spiked collar boots leaving him bare in only his tight protective black desert suit. He refused to take off any more than he had to for tonight's sleep.

Wes laid his coat out on the floor before Rui interrupted his descent with a proposal.

"Wait, Wes, I could just stay on my side of the bed and you could stay on yours! Don't sleep on the floor, you're the one who has to drive us everywhere and keep a clear mind in the face of danger. You need the rest!", Rui urged him not to sleep on the floor.

"But… but that's not… you'd honestly let me… sleep with you?!", asked Wes with many conflicting emotions in his mind and heart.

"I know it's weird… but come on Wes! We both need the rest, just stay on your side and I'll stay on mine. I promise it won't be too awkward.", Rui pushed the notion further.

Wes hesitated. He noticed there was only one pillow on the bed that happened to be on Rui's side now. He shrugged and yawned before he slowly began opening the covers of the bed and sliding into his side of the mattress.

"Alright I'm in… the bed.", Wes announced before looking at the holographic lamp on his side.

"Great! Ready to turn off the lights?", Rui questioned with her hand over the holographic lamp's button on her side of the room.

"Yep.", the silver haired young man answered as he felt the comfort of the warm bed gradually put his mind at ease despite the incredibly awkward situation.

"Alright, lights out!", Rui announced, turning off her lamp before Wes shortly turned off his.

The room has gone pitch black now. Wes laid flat on his back with his head resting on a flat but a just comfortable enough mattress. Rui faced away from her companion. Her face half buried in her pillow as she moved her legs together and formed a fetal position on her side of the bed.

"Dream sweet dreams Wes, see ya tomorrow.", Rui whispered him a good night.

"You too… Rui.", Wes whispered back as he felt his heart beat with his left hand over his chest.

Silence fell over the room in a matter of minutes. Wes could only hear the ambience of the underground town mixed with the sound of with Rui's and his own breathing through the dark little bedroom. Rui turned herself over under the covers and continued breathing in her quest to fall asleep. The two late teens were slowly losing their consciousness to their slumber before they both fell asleep together.

Wes dreamed that he was standing on the edge of a volcano with warm air passing through his hair. He snapped out of his dream to realize Rui was facing him in her sleep as he was facing her.

"That's… a little too close.", Wes thought to himself before he turned about face to stare at the wall in the darkness.

Rui had involuntarily inched closer toward him on the bed. Her pillow was slowly being left behind by her head. This thought made Wes worry as he laid on his side.

"She isn't getting closer is she?!", he thought to himself for a good ten minutes as he listened to the room's ambience.

As he stared into the wall, he closed his eyes again but couldn't dream of anything in a solid context. He felt a nudge against his back which awoke him from the shock.

"Her… Her head… She must be tossing and turning in her sleep…", he thought to himself before he started blushing against his will.

He could hear her breathe in and squeak a little with every exhale. He couldn't think much of it before he slowly began falling back to sleep.

This time he woke up hours later, and when he did, he felt his arms hugging a pillow against his chest as he lay back on his back. His eyes were closed and he could only think of how comfortable it was before he felt the sudden awkward shocking realization that the bed only had one pillow meant for Rui to use. Rui realized it too late that the extra pillow with the firm texture she thought she was hugging as well was Wes's torso.

The two had inadvertently been holding each other silently. They were both too afraid to move in fear of waking up the other. The lack of light in the windowless room proved to be most unfortunate as neither of the two could tell what time it is in the Under. They would continue sleeping or attempting to sleep without any knowledge of the next day having come or not.

As they held their ground, eventually their exhaustion overcame them once again. Their exhaustion forced them to abandon logic as they grew comfortable enough to snuggle up with each other under the covers despite their deal to keep their hands to themselves. Neither Wes nor Rui could find the time to question it as they were both happy falling asleep and cuddling for comfort in each other's arms. Rui's head on his chest and her left leg over his legs as Wes kept his left arm in the gap between her neck and the pillow to wrap around her back to place his left hand on her waist with his chin over her forehead feeling the countless strands of smooth soft hair against his skin down to his neck.

For a fair amount of time they were together in that room until one of their stomachs growled in hunger, and that was when they realized they had been sleeping in past twelve in the morning with Wes spooning Rui with his arms wrapped around her torso before their final awakening.

The old man in the lobby continued sleeping with a snot bubble growing and shrinking out his right nostril as the accidental couple resumed their crusade together, well rested but silently still blushing in unison.

The two agreed they wouldn't dare talk about what had happened that night between each other. What started as a mutual agreement to keep their boundaries untouched ended with Wes and Rui treating each other like pillows for the sake of comfort. But from that day forward they would still choose hotel rooms that have two beds over one... until after they decided they would make more memories together one fateful night after their crusade against Cipher was long over.


End file.
